Marijuana measure will lead to less dollars, more drugs

Posted: Friday, October 22, 2004

On Nov. 2, 2004, major elections, right down to the presidency, will be brought before all Alaskan voters. One of the subjects on the ballots this year is the legalization of marijuana, again. The ads on television are so misleading, basically saying this is the last of the great states, therefore we should all have the right to choose and make it legal. Ballot measure two says: marijuana will be legal to those 21 and over to grow, use, sell or give away the drug.

It also follows up saying it would allow the state to tax and regulate the gateway drug.

In today's paper, physicians, politicians and the police are going to do everything in their power to stop this ridiculous ballot from passing.

If ballot measure two is passed for some ungodly reason, you can kiss your kids lives, our school funding, state funding, Outside source funding, military funding goodbye because no federal or state mandated facility is going to be o.k. with this.

Can you imagine if this passes, how high of an influx of drug abusers are going to show up in Alaska, just because now it's legal? Think about it, we may as well be yelling into a huge megaphone down to the Lower 48 saying, "come to Alaska, buy and sell your pot, smoke it, do whatever, it's your right to choose! Oh yah, it's legal up here!"

Don't be fooled folks, the last time this came up on the ballot four years ago, we shot it down then, let's keep our voice heard and shoot it down a final time. Remember when our children were in the D.A.R.E. programs at elementary and middle school?

What was the "gateway" drug of choice? Marijuana. How are we now to tell our grown teenagers that back when the Kenai Police Department put hours into the D.A.R.E. program when they were younger, "remember what you learned about marijuana? Well forget all that, we made it legal now, its o.k. to have it."

The word that comes to mind is total pandemonium. It's a drug, will always be a drug, and unless you have cancer, or an untreatable illness, your doctor should have the say so whether you need that or not. That folks is how it is legal, taxable and regulated. Not for some dealer on the street to sell it to our kids for recreational use.